Game On (15 page)

21

DAKOTA

 

“Y
ou know he wasn't worth it, right?” Dakota Taylor said to Xavier as she made her way through the crowd to catch up to him.

Xavier was walking away from the school with a bunch of kids following and still gossiping about the confrontation.

“Munchkin, I'm not sweatin' the small stuff,” said Xavier, looking around like he was searching for something. “I can't even remember the cat's name.”

Dakota motioned to the kids who were following Xavier as if dude was some hot, up-and-coming young hip-hop star out for a stroll in the ghetto.

“Why are these students still following you?”

“I don't know.”

“You do know.”

Xavier kept his eyes peeled to the traffic as the cars sped by. “Munchkin, my guess would be that they've heard about my legendary skills for knocking cats senseless, and being that this is my last year, they want to see if my rep is well deserved.” He even managed to smile at Dakota after that one.

“I think they just want to see if some more trouble is going to jump off.”

Xavier looked back but kept on walking. “Why can't they just be fans?”

“Whatever. I just want to thank you again for pulling those girls off me.”

“I don't know, judging from the way it looks, I'm going to have to start charging you bodyguard prices.”

“I don't have money.”

“Well, you don't have a bodyguard either, chump.”

She laughed. It sure felt good to laugh too. Dakota hadn't been doing much of that lately. Though there was much garbage circulating around campus with students being warned not to be caught talking or standing near Xavier, Dakota felt safe. Since getting to Coleman, this was the only time she felt that way. Didn't matter to her about the rumors of Xavier having a price on his head. She couldn't care less about who they thought put it there. Xavier was her knight in shining armor—her big brother—and she was thankful for him.

The hangers-on started thinning out the farther they traveled away from school grounds until it was just her and him, sitting at a bus stop and gazing out into the heart of rush hour.

Dakota had to ask the one question on her mind. “You look great physically, but how do you really feel?”

Xavier had that look like he'd been expecting her question. “Don't know.”

She said, “Xavier, I hope you don't get mad at me, but I don't think you should've come back to school so early.”

“Now see, if you had been anybody else, I probably would be clocking out right now, but since you are a munchkin, you can have your say.” Xavier was squinting, straining to see something that was happening two blocks away.

Dakota was still running her mouth. “I still can't believe that your dad bought you a brand-new car and you're not driving it.”

“I don't feel safe in a car,” Xavier said flatly.

Dakota was stumped. “Where did that come from?”

Xavier kept staring off down the street. “You're pretty intuitive. You will probably not ask me why I wasn't driving the new car. So I just saved you some time. I'm not driving my car because I don't feel safe in a little enclosed space.” Xavier rubbed his eyes. He didn't seem like he was paying attention to her. The look on his face was like he'd seen a ghost.

“Don't you think you should go to therapy? I mean the whole ‘not safe in a car' thing is not normal. I think what you have is called post-traumatic stress—I read about it in
The New York Times
. Happens to soldiers that return home from the war or anybody who's experienced some type of trauma.”

Something down the street had Xavier's attention.

“Are you hearing me?”

“Yeah. Just thought I saw something.”

“Seriously, don't you think you should go to therapy?”

“It's not that serious, super geek. I don't feel safe in a car right now, that's all.”

Dakota looked around. “Yup. I can see how standing at a bus stop is a lot safer.”

Xavier just shook his head. “Will you let me deal with my issues, please? Anyway, why don't you talk to the principal in bringing awareness about bullying to Coleman.”

“I don't know about that.”

“I'm not trying to be funny, but who better than you to help shed some light on the subject? You might even be able to counsel people.”

Dakota look confused. “I wouldn't know how to get started.”

“You know what, I'll talk to Doug for you and see if homeboy can get the ball rolling. Don't worry about it. I got this.”

She trusted Xavier. And if he said that everything would be fine, then she believed him. Besides, he was responsible for getting the major players in the SNLG crew kicked out. They wouldn't be bothering her anytime soon. As Dakota peered out into traffic, she wrestled with the idea.

Xavier is right,
she thought. There were more students being bullied. Dakota couldn't, and wouldn't, let them silently suffer. Xavier, whether he knew it or not, had influenced her to fight and to stand up for herself. What better way to champion a cause? Dakota had made up her mind at the bus stop to become the voice for the voiceless.

22

XAVIER

 

X
avier was seated at the dining room table outlining his paper. Alfonso was at the library with a friend, and Noah and his irritating girlfriend Roxanne Hudson were out enjoying a movie date. The house was all his. Nice. Quiet. Just like he liked it whenever he sat to unleash his thoughts upon the world. His concentration was fragmented, though, resulting in him writing in spurts. He kept on replaying the scene outside the school on Wednesday, when he had to seriously restrain himself from kicking in ol' boy's hairline. Sean Desmond was a big-shot MLB rookie, and those two were apparently his personal bodyguards. Just the kind of cats who packed heat and weren't afraid to bust caps. There was no doubt that he could've easily taken that lame in a one-on-one. But dudes like that wouldn't hesitate to pull out and start letting off if they lost the scuffle. Bullets hurt, and Xavier wasn't trying to go down that road again. So he was more than happy that nothing had gone down.

He was more worried about Samantha, though. Ol' girl looked shook. Like she wanted to tell him something but couldn't force herself to spill the beans. His love for her was tattooed inside his chest and would live there as long as his heart beat. There was no way he could turn a blind eye to her situation. Her facial expression screamed out help. And that rat Sean Desmond just sat in the truck, smiling. Letting his minions conduct his dirty work. Until Samantha asked for his help, Xavier's hands were totally tied. But once she untied them, Xavier was going to enjoy beating the crap out of Sean and whoever else stood at his back.

As he wrote, Xavier felt like he was out of his mind. Next weekend would be the start of his little investigation. Linus needed money in a major way and Xavier wanted to know why. He'd already set the entire thing up. Linus wholeheartedly agreed that Xavier would function as lookout, nothing else. He'd be sitting in one of the windows of an upstairs bedroom inside a two-story rickety old colonial. And since he was in the position, Xavier figured he might as well take advantage of the situation. To gather a bit of info on the workers. To see what made them tick. There would be three workers he would be able to talk to and get the scoop as to why they were willing to risk their freedom for a piece of the so-called American dream. He would only have to put in two to three hours of work after school. It would be just enough time to spy on Flip. Also, it would provide him with enough time to interview all three boys, get what he needed, and quit.

As he wrote, Dakota slipped into his mind. It looked like Dakota would get the chance to put together an anti-bullying campaign. Doug had come through and Principal Skinner was on board. It was time to bring awareness to Coleman. The date had yet to be determined, but Dakota securing the principal's vote was major.

Xavier put a hand over his shoulder. Despite his wound being fully healed, the thing still throbbed on certain days, especially with the cold front that had dropped into Detroit and showed absolutely no signs of leaving anytime soon. Aside from all of that, Xavier was having trouble trying to digest what he thought he saw while hanging out at the bus stop with Dakota a couple of days ago. There had been a man driving a yellow taxicab who looked like his friend and mentor Billy Hawkins. Even though Billy had been acting weird since Xavier had gotten shot, a cab driver he wasn't. From a distance it sure did look like him, though.

Xavier was almost finishing up when he heard Noah's girlfriend walk her loud mouth into the house behind Noah.

“Man,” said Roxanne in her usual throaty smoker's voice, “that damn Denzel Washington is such a cutie. And did you see the way he walks, Noah, in that one scene where it was in slow motion after the explosion—you talking about a bona fide phenom with the coolest strut in Hollywood.” She snorted out a laugh and didn't give Noah a chance to answer. “Oh my God. The man is so sexy. Noah, I would leave you in a heartbeat if Denzel asked me.” She put both her hands to her mouth and play-fainted onto the couch.

Xavier had seen just about enough. He couldn't stand her and didn't want any part of a conversation. He started packing up his things to move his work into his bedroom.

Noah walked in and threw his keys on a small table by the front door. “How's the writing coming?” he asked Xavier.

Xavier loved his father, but seeing Noah with Roxanne always put him in a bad mood. There was something about the chick that didn't sit too well with him.

“I thought you guys weren't coming back until later on,” Xavier said to Noah.

Roxanne sat up on the sofa. “You must've had yourself a little hot tenderoni action droppin' through,” said Roxanne, smiling and giggling.

“Seriously. You got all that from the question I asked my father?”

Noah said to Xavier, “Naw, son, I figured I'd come back and cook my lady a special dinner.”

Roxanne stood up from the couch. Her attitude came out of nowhere. “Are you gonna let your son talk to you like he's the parent?”

The lady was bonkers and Xavier wasn't about to buy into it.

“I don't think he's talking like that. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—you're overreacting.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Spare the rod and spoil the child. That's what's wrong with him. You let him get away with too much. He just wanted us out of the house so he could have his young tenderoni all up in his bedroom. What does that Bible of yours say about ruling your household?”

“You don't know me,” said Xavier to Roxanne. “You don't know anything about me.”

Noah stepped in. “Xavier, I'll handle this. Just go to your room.”

“My pleasure,” said Xavier.

Roxanne smacked her lips. “You see his smart mouth? You need to check that gangsta attitude of his . . . before he gets shot again.”

As much as Xavier wanted to go off, he took the high road and walked back to his bedroom. When he closed the door he heard:

“Sweetie, I really think you owe my son an apology.” That was his father.

“So I have to apologize for stating the truth, and the truth is he'll be plugged again if you don't check him.”

“You are completely out of line, Roxanne,” Noah said, trying not to sound too intense. “I would never say anything like that about your fourteen- and seventeen-year-old sons.”

Roxanne snapped, “That's because my boys have this little thing called manners. They're well-behaved and don't get into any trouble.”

Xavier could tell that his father was becoming frustrated.

Noah's religion totally opened up the front door and took a hike with his next response. “Manners are the only thing you can brag about. Those two boys of yours are dumber than frog turds.”

Roxanne hit the roof. “No, you didn't go there. We'll see just how much intelligence your hoodlum has when you have to go identify his body—oh, yeah, since he's so good with numbers, see if he can figure out his casket measurements while he's on this side of the dirt.”

Noah went biblical. “The tongue is a little member but in it lies great power.”

“Sounds like you're trying to go to the Bible on me. Exactly what are you trying to say, Reverend?”

Noah didn't flinch. “Be careful that the curses that you speak on others don't come back to harm yours.”

Xavier was laughing. His father had just scored points in a major way. It wasn't the way Xavier would've liked to have seen it handled, but the old man did it his way, with style and class.

However, it pissed Roxanne off. Sounded like the idiot was headed for the door when Xavier heard Noah stop her.

“Listen, baby, this entire thing has gotten way out of hand. I was gonna cook you dinner. But since we've been given this beautiful day off from the plant, let's go to a nice restaurant and discuss this thing like normal adults. What you say, kitten?”

There was a long silence at first. And then Xavier heard Roxanne say, “Okay, Daddy. You have to take me to the London Chop House if you want me to forgive you.”

“It's done. Let's go.” There was the sound of Noah snatching up his keys from the table. “Xavier, I'll be back. Make sure your little brother gets something to eat when he comes home from the library.”

Xavier was left sitting on his bed with a
What just happened?
look on his face. That wasn't how it was supposed to end. Roxanne should've been on her way home by now, angry, screaming at the top of her lungs, insanely flipping off motorists, cussing and cursing the day Noah was born. But instead she had gotten what she wanted—not just to go out for a decent meal, but to dine at one of the most expensive restaurants in town. He wanted to call it like he saw it. The old man was whipped. And if it was like that, Xavier couldn't be happier that this was his last year of high school. Noah had been away and this was the first real relationship since Xavier's mother Ne Ne. And the way those two were carrying along, marriage didn't seem like it was too far behind. There was no way he could live in the same house with that woman and her boys. It just wasn't gonna fly.

Xavier tabled all of that drama and set to work to put the finishing touches on the outline.